Harmonic Choir launch season with Rossini classic

Nottingham Harmonic Choir’s 2016-2017 season gets under way on Saturday, November 12, at the city’s Albert Hall with a performance of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.

The last of his “peches de vieillesse” (sins of old age), it was written in 1863. The Mass is neither small nor solemn, nor even especially liturgical in spirit, but witty and dramatic.

On the last page of the score Rossini wrote, “Dear Lord, here it is finished, this poor little mass. Have I just written sacred music, or rather, sacrilegious music? I was born for opera buffa, as you well know. Not much technique, a little bit of heart, that’s all.”

Rossini also said, “Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind”. On that definition, this is good music.